Harbhajan returns to India's Test squad

@Emon_Das Still complaining over the WC match??? And to name that the Biggest Controversial Match ever in the History of ODI cricket shows the lack of maturity with you... Grow up... Lets not jump into any conclusions even before a ball is bowled in the upcoming series. Let the better team win. Looking forward to a good series( hope Rain does not play spoilsport)

If India think they got the upper hand beating Ban in the WC (which is the biggest controversial match ever in the history of ODI crkt), we will b more than happy. We r welcoming India. Just want 2 c how they get escaped in the ODI series. Tigers r really hungry & only beating India by humongous margin will quest thr thrust.

Dream EMon_DAS dream. what is the contribution of Bangladesh to world cricket a big zero. In the recent Pakistan visit to Bangladesh there were some howlers from bangla umpires against Pakistan team.But in the world cup they were criticising every umpire. we want the best as if they are the best and make no mistakes.

In the upcoming season, we hope youngster like Taskin, Rubel, Sabbir will be eyeing to play in the world best T20 tournament like BBL, CPL & BPL; not in IPL.

Its absolutely laughable reading the comments of some Bangladeshi cricket fans here.come on guys,you always live in dreamland.you guys were shouting the same way when india thrashed you in Melbourne in the quarterfinals.and after the defeat you guys started to cry like some stubborn baby and gave lame excuses about umpiring decisions.don't worry because you guys will come down to the reality when you will loose against team india in the upcoming Bangladesh tour.your team couldn't beat indias B team when we toured last and now you guys are dreaming about beating team india when we are sending a strong team.just keep dreaming.lol

@Andy199. Keep dreaming. You have no idea about the pipeline of Bangladesh cricket which is backed by millions of crazy fan who will always support them no matter what. Some young exiting players are waiting to enter the team who are far better than the current BD players. So Mr. Andy, keep enjoying our thoughts and keep watching. Because the tigers will answer in the field.

@EMON_DAS "I think BPL is even bigger attraction for the true crkt lovers. BCB took a good decision by having it arranged just bfr the 2016 WC. Chance of BD playing in the final is very high...." strongly agree. very high chances of BD playing in final of BPL (if it happens). sadly though, zero chance of playing in 2016 WC final.

What's going on selctores mind...2014 highest run getter in all foremats .odi . t20.and ranji trophy . This ipl also 375 runs .and also highest rungetter in 8 seson robin uttappa he is 5th place 2996 . runs . .why always ignore robin uttappa . its sad.of such talent player . If dhoni take rest robin uttappa is ideal choice . .5 days match karnataka he did wk work . ...He is nt t20 wk . all foremats he can do...atlest give him 6 odis nonstop ennoff he will prove . 3 year consistency . just given 5 odi...He did 3 inngs superly . .One is never forget Rohith sharma ...self less cricket . .given 200 pertenership . ....common selctores . .give him chance . ..Raydhu . and binny nt diserve place . ..

@EMON_DAS "I think BPL is even bigger attraction for the true crkt lovers. BCB took a good decision by having it arranged just bfr the 2016 WC. Chance of BD playing in the final is very high...." strongly agree. very high chances of BD playing in final of BPL (if it happens). sadly though, zero chance of playing in 2016 WC final. unless, of course, only England & BD are the only 2 sides that play the WC

Monsoon will be the winner in the test. For ODI series all I want is one win for BD. A win of 2-1 for BD will be a dream come true.

@Izzmail5 May be in the ODI series BD might beat India. In test Cricket it can't get 20 wickets of Bengal Ranji Team. I can tell you for sure! If Bangladesh play Ranji Trophy they will lose to us (Karnataka).

I always cheer for weaker sides. I am Indian fan, so not this time. BD fans can hope for the best.. but reality is that Indians are miles better than Bangladeshis... still expecting that bd players will show good fight and some close matches...

Sandeep Patil is regressing. Why select 15 people for a single test? Why not just select twelve and be done with it. After Harbhajan's pathetic performance in Ranji, his selection to the National team is shocking.

Bangladesh will beat india

Selection With politics, Every one in India know that, Sir ravinder Jadeja is not a player for international cricket but again and without any reason, he is in team, Start binney Either give him chance to prove himself, because i can't see his performance in IPL or other domestic matches to proof his worth, Why not Uthhapa in onday, Why Shekher dhwan in test. He has not played well in Australia and England.

Bangladesh cricket will soon hit rock bottom!! I can almost quite certainly say they will go back to their minnow status by the next World Cup 4 years from now.. Please do continue to share your thoughts BD fans.. It's quite an entertainment!!

India have so many players that there is always a huge debate after squad selection for every tournament. Guys cool down, let them play and get their chances.We still have a Zimbabwe tour up next on cards most likely followed by a full SL tour (BCCI commitment to SLC for helping with series after windies withdrew) and a big final series vs Pakistan by this year end.And sure BCCI will arrange a few more home series if Champions league T20 doesn't happen in sept.Hence there will be a lot of likely chances this year.

Why do not they try their bench strength ? Why didn't they rest our senior players and give chance to youngsters to develop. Regarding Test team selection : I do not why karan sharma is in the team . Check his first class career . Akshar patel is more off odi bowler . Instead of karan sharma i would have given chance to Amit mishra and sheryas gopal . In fast bowling department i would have given chance to mithun and sandeep sharma /pankaj singh . Out : Ishant dhawal and mohit . All three mediocre bowler neither has extreme pace nor swing the ball regularly.In batting department : IN kedhar jadhav , karun nair and robin ( as backup wicket keeper ) Out : dhawan rohit rahane ( rest) .

Ok, i am going to try this one more time, For everybody saying " full strength team"... this is not a full India's Full strength, not even close when you take into account that yuvi, ZAK, nehra ghambir and otherlikes of them aren't even playing. Calling this team of inexperienced players a full strength team is ridiculous. you need players who know how to win a lost game, not give up like they did in the WC against Australia. Every player mentioned above has done that and they need to be in the team to teach the next gen on how to be tactical and smart while playing.

Poor Selection, no one bowler changed in last team, and no one impreeed in IPL tournament, why select old bowlers, When Zaheer khan, A.Nehra, and some others r well bowled, remember alway we can't win match on batsman performance, and v.kohli not to handle Captaincy, it will damage his performance.

Emon_Das - nice ambitions but don't forget India will rule cricket for ever as we have 10 times more money and talent than anyone else. Ask u'r own bangla players - they'll any day trade the other mediocre leagues (like bbl or cpl or whatecer u call it) for ipl

We, fanatic BD cricket fans, don't watch IPL these days. Cause the standard of crkt is very poor. Rather we love to see BBL, CPL. I think BPL is even bigger attraction for the true crkt lovers. BCB took a good decision by having it arranged just bfr the 2016 WC. Chance of BD playing in the final is very high....

To get on top against Bangladesh India needs to focus on normal game tactics. They should focus the sole test match as its the tour opener, if they can hand the Bangla team a big defeat then they would have the psychological advantage in the ODIs. Its true now-a-days the Bangladesh game is a kind of embarrasment for Team India as if they win then nothing will change, they rarely get the chance to celebrate. On the other hand, if India looses then its a serious issue. Because loosing against a team like Bangladesh will certainly cause a lot of frustration for the men in blue.

Who cares, if IND send their best squad or not. Their will b no difference in results. Another BANGLAWASH on the cards

It's very good 2 c that frds from our neighboring country do know lot abt our cricket. it proves that BD cricket has been elevated to the next level. We are going to b a powerhouse in 5 yrs' time that's for sure. And for my fellow Indian fans, get ready for another BANGLAWASH... Hahaaaaaaaa

regrading to the up coming bangladesh series the selectors have not selected a good team intead of wridhiman saha the selectors should have selected ambati rayudu who is in best of form whenever wridhiman saha had got a chance he has not performed well in testmatches the selectors should have selected sehwag and gambir in test matches and yuvrajsingh in oneday matches yuvraj has scored three conseqtive centuries in ranji matches

@SPARECHANGE: You need to update your history knowledge. Bangladesh debuted in 1986 in Asia Cup, so technically they are 29 years old and not 16. BTW, you don't see comments of the likes of @EMON_DAS do you??? Tell your fellow BD fans to growup first.

@COOL2COOL yes he need to come on he is better than ashwin right aswin picked 50 wic in 9 matches and 100 in 18 matches so harbajan need to pick 100 in 7 matches [illogical haters logic we can also think like this].If i thick partially and not like haters tell him to not even ashwin record just come close to that.Harbajan is good bowler but his head went big he was omitted because he betrayed team india in eng by faking an back injury but played a pull shot and got ready for champions trophy in 3 weeks.

Team India:::::::: 60 years old veteran in world cricket Bangladesh::::::: 15 years old teenager

Indian fans need to act like grownups and not discourage BD fans Don't forget......... just like current BD team…...INDIA used to be a 15 years old teenager ..like 30 years ago ....

As a BD fan...i admire Indian selector's decision making...thank you for honoring BD team by sending a full strength team ...this will help us improve our cricket and good luck to Team India

EMON_DAS: It was hardly a drubbing lol. India went on to win the first T20 World Cup the very same year. Trophies matter and Bangladesh have none. So at this moment in time, you're the Newcastle of cricket and India is the Real Madrid of cricket.

@EMON_DAS: And have you forgot how BD lost to the likes of AFG and Nepal and couldn't qualify for 2013 CT and again will not qualify for CT 2017 cause next two series of Pakistan is against ZIM and SL (without Sanga and Mahela). Mark my words.

20 Yrs. in international cricket and BD fans still talk about 2007 !! Grow up guys..

First of all Congrats to Bhajji, It is a clear signal to players that if you are fit and inform, you will get picked. My only concern is that forthcoming Test and one day series is being played in monsoon season, I think Bangladesh Cricket Board must have consulted with Met. Department. As we all know Bangladesh Team is lower ranking team even though a strong team is being selected. Let us wait for Monsoon Cricket.

I feel sorry for the best performers in Ranji Trophy.

Not agreed with selectors on Harbhajan, should have left arm young spinner in place of him.

Bangladesh has won 7 tests from it's first 90 tests.

GR8GAUR@ how cd u forget 2007 WC drubbing, when India kicked out frm the group stage...

Pakistan has a weak batting line-up even with the seniors, then just forget about a new team from them. And India is the team who bowl out opposition in all matches in the worldcup. If you evaluate India based on that toothless pak team, then it will be a huge mistake my dear friend.

@EMON_DAS India had to play against powerhouses like England and Australia. While Bangla got whipped by Zimbabwe. Yes, Zimbabwe!!

@EMON_DAS..agreed india needed 20yrs to get their first test victory but why you ignore the fact they there were no cricket for 10yrs in between due to world war,and when there were no war india were barely playing 2tests a year on average.India needed 21tests to win their first tests but before that they did managed to drew against teams like Eng and were not losing each and every tests.

@GR8GAUR who's comparing India to England? I just said I would rather be supporting them right now over India, even with the start they've just had against NZ :)

Your comments don't really make any sense in relation to what I said... don't get so emotional!

Bhajji's inclusion in test squad after MSD's retirement rings me a bell. In fact few bells.

@EMON_DAS: In those 20 years India had to wait to get their first win, do you know how many tests India played? If you compare it with how many opportunities BD has got, it's nothing.

To the one who commented at 8:02 GMT "we know what Indian team is like in tests, but don't compare them to England. India unlike England were not thrown out of tournament by a team like Bangladesh. Also in tests, every body is lion at home, let them play at home after playing for 15 months outside SC. Then we'll talk about their ranking. Till then STFU.

@EMON_DAS: Don't worry, Indian batting lineup is capable of posting 350+ scores provided the pitch is same as it was against Pakistan. If it is "under-prepared" pitch like last time, then also we have likes of Binny the tormentor :P

PAK vs BAN last three ODIs: Bangladesh won by 79 runs (BD 329, PAK 250), 07 wkts (12 ovrs to spare), 08 wkts(11 ovrs to spare). And this was against the likes of WAHAB, JUNAED, AJMAL. Even then, we have been able to win comprehensively. So, we are expected to chase down 320/330 against comparatively weaker bowling attack of IND.

I'm happy with this selection as Bhajji is bowling well. Axar has had his chance and should go back and improve. Jadeja is too lucky to be playing for India ever since he came into the team.

INDIA will have to put big runs on the board if they want to win ODI series against this confident BD batting line-up. Anything under 310/320 won't be enough to restrict team BD in BD.

@KESHAB NEUPANE CHETRYL: India achieved its first ever Test victory in 1951-52 when it beat England in Madras. Having made its Test debut in 1932, India had to wait for 20 long years in the sidelines before making its mark in the big stage. On the contrary, BD won their first match within 04 yrs. Now can you compare IND with BD? Again, If INDIA don't take BD seriously, they will lose the series without any doubt.

Absolutely ridiculous and poor decision taken by the indian selectors here for the tour of Bangladesh.why are jadeja,axar been selected for the odi series.They should have given a chance to some of the younger players such as surya kumar yadav,kedar jadhav,sarfaraz khan,hardik pandya,deepak hooda etc.whe all know that team india will be playing non stop cricket till april 2016.so unless and until you don't give a chance to our bench strength then how will you rest some of our key seniour players for more hard and important series against southafrica and for Australian tour in jan 2016.horrible sense of humor shown by sandip patil and company.

I find it really pleasing that none of the Indian players asked to be rested for the Test match despite a long tour of Australia then the IPL.

The players are right to support Test matches, congratulations to them.

Good Team Selction. You can not select Hood,Pandya,Sarfeaz,Samson( he is from my state) based on IPL performance. Only one thing , they can select Shreays Gopal instead of karn Sharma, Shreays is a good lower order allrounder . And Bhaji needs to be selected for a change because Jaddu is not justifying his place in the test team

Bangladesh should be very confident against this long, long, long, long over-rated Indian team. Having only won 3 of their past 15 test matches is testament to the international side that has truly earned the tag of, "mediocre."

India need to be honest with themselves about where they really do belong on the world stage, i.e. very far below the likes of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. I'd even be more comfortable supporting England at the present time.

Harbhajan has earned his place in Test Squad. He has been in phenomenal touch with the ball in the recent past. He varies the pace better than ever before. He will cement his place in test matches . He has performed in every IPL season as an all-rounder.Keeping T20 World Cup in mind which will be held in India from 11 March 2016 to 3 April 2016 Bhajji is here to stay...

@ emon das... bd has lot to prove...they still have to prove they are good enough to play test cricket. Winning just 1 -2 ODIs or test matches once in a while for a cricket crazy nation is ridiculous. Srilanka got test status in 1982 and in 8-10 years they justified their test status by constant performance. They produced some world class players and became ODI world champions in 1996. But Bangladesh after getting test status in year 2000 has never been able to win a test match barring 2 tests against WI 2nd XI and 5 tests against zimbabwe. So...Bangladesh have to prove and lot to prove..yes.

Dear ever emotional Indian fans (including self)..what is the need for the Uttappas, Iyers, Samsons and someone even calling Sarfaraz (he has hardly played a Ranji season). The Test batting line up is now settling down and they need to play more rather than trying new players for the sake of it. As for Bhajji I'm too surprised, but it also shows that Kholi will be a captain of his own and won't go by what MSD did. That can be good for his captaincy. With Indian team grappling with test defeats they rather put their best team to play than try out an India A team. What surprised me was sending a full strength ODI team with MSD playing. Shows that they don't want to be embarrassed by defeat.

How can you choose on IPL performance? What's the use of Ranji Trophy?

It's time for us to elect a new test captain. Mushfiq lacks the captaincy materials. And we won't be able to change our fate in longer version if we don't take a bold decision right now. A smart & gutsy captain can make huge difference... it's a captain's game at the end of the day...

BD has nothing to prove to anybody where we stand as a cricketing nation. PAK, ZIM, NZ, WI, have had the embarrassing experience, being thrashed by BD in shorter format. And if IND still take BD lightly, they will hv the same medicine.

Karn Sharma selected for the Test team based on his smaller format credentials for the Aussie tour was a blunder and he was denied a chance in the ODI team where he should have been taken in the first place. Same mistake being committed once again in the selection for the BD tour. Harbhajan was not the best spinner in the last Ranji series - why then select him for the Test. Makes more sense to have selected him for the ODI squad based on IPL performance.

Where is Uthappa - how long you keep ignoring him? and Why Hrbhajjan

Pressure comes on virat kohli... no Ms.Dhoni, Raina, Jadeja.. will see how virat do the test captaincy.... may be it's easy on Bangladesh...

Really unimaginative selection. where are the young talents? Samson, Iyer, sarfraz?

When your IPL performance gets you a Test call up!!!

Delighted to see Bhajji back. His quality is undeniable. Hope he gets a game. But India will have to play 2 spinners for that. For sure Karn Sharma cannot get a place in the side ahead of Bhajji. That would be Bhajji's selection a mockery. In fact I am surprised at sharma's selection given that Bangladesh has so many Southpaws

It is clear that both Ash and Bhajji will play (and not Karn Sharma)- on current form these two are the top 2 spinners anyway. Re. Batting: Who will bat higher up in the batting order? Ashwin or Bhajji?

Kohli preferred Karn Sharma to Ashwin and lost the first (Adelaide) test. Ashwin could have easily provided the much needed tail support he did not get from Saha, Karn, etc. In any case, between Ash and Bhajji- the last test I remember where Ashwin and Bhajji played together was very much in favour of Ashwin. Can some one share more stats on this please?

Crazy. Absolutely crazy. IPL performance takes precedence over Ranji performance. Where are Shreyas Gopal and Karun Nair? They have the talent and temperament to replace any of the show ponies in the Indian team.

People that comment that Karn Sharma has been picked based on his ODI or IPL performances are totally wrong. I am saying this because I checked his ODI and IPL performances!

where is uthappa & zaheer?

Is India having a shortage of off spinners? Or did they think Harbhajan is better off against Bangladesh?

IND's current ranking in tests is below team potential. That is due to missed opportunities of test wins / series wins on account of sloppy catching & poor batting ( by 1/2 star batsman in key match situations ) in the series v SA, NZ, ENG & AUS. over the last 18 months. Some had wrongly concluded that the losses were due to poor bowling / captaincy/ head coach & not knowing how to win abroad. IND have excellent players to be at top spot in all three formats of cricket. But for that to happen IND has to select the best teams, play to full potential, show huge improvements in fitness &fielding and not stumble by aggression theory. A bright start has not been made as Test & ODI squads have selection errors. Considering the diversity, IND needs to continue. with the practice of experienced foreign coach to implement a neutral mechanism of team management. Playing cricket, managing cricket & analyzing cricket require different skills & training. IND's tour to BD will be interesting.

And off-course I would have picked few new-bees focusing WC 2019. But thats a long way to go. There will be many more changes on the way.

India has so many good players that any selection is a good selection. So dear Indian fans do not worry. Only way BD can win if they play really good.

Btw, why is Karn Sharma who has a magnificent first class record of having picked less than 2 wickets per first class match being picked again in test squad? If I were selector I would have picked Harmeet Singh in place of Harbhajan and Shreyas Gopal, a better bowling all-rounder for long format, than Karn Sharma. Give the youngsters a chance even though they are not ready yet.

Karn Sharma is a one day bowler and not a longer format bowler.Purely based on performance, Shreyas Gopal is the best leg spinner currently.Karn Sharma has two 5-fers in 38 matches with an average of 32.While, shreyas gopal has two 5-fers in 19 FC matches with an average of 23.

There is a possibility of all ODIs being decided based on D/L. At least few session of the test will be lost because of monsoon. The timing of this series is bad. I hope BD raises few rating point. BD will give a better fight in ODI.

my fav xi for 1st odi 1.tamim 2.shumyo 3.mahmudullah 4.mushi 5.sakib 6.sabbir 7.nasir 8.sunny 9.mash 10.taskin 11.mustafizur

The ranji performance of Bhajji makes this a risky selection. Jaddu deserved to be given a break. Binny and Karan Sharmas selection is void of logic. We need big turners in tests....Kuldeep Yadav should have been blooded. Rayudu deserves his place. The couple of guys who cd hav been tried in ODI's were Shreyas Iyer, Chahal and Sandeep Sharma. i was thinking that Nehra wd be discussed considering his IPL performance.

Ambati rayudu puts his hand up whenever his team is in a bad situation . I dont see anything wrong with his selection . You cant critisize him just because ur favourate player didnt make the cut.

Disappointed to see Dhawan still in Test Squad. He has had disastrous AUS/ENG/NZ tours. Anybody can reclaim his place by thrashing Bangladesh and then play till next difficult foreign tour comes. Domestic performers Bawne/K. Nair/N. ojha could have tried. Hope KL Rahul is preferred over Dhawan for inclusion in XI.

Seriously some very crazy comments to be seen here, however its good to see Jadeja getting dropped, reason is obvious. No dhoni to back him. For all those questioning inclusion of Dhawal Kulkarni, he may not be exceptional bowler, but he has done his bit to deserve the inclusion. CSK Man - Mohit, had 8 wickets from 11 games before WC compared 8 wickets from 4 for Dhawal. Still he was pushed.in WC XI Decision stands vindicated after Dhawal's performance yesterday picking Gayle/Kohli. What has Mohit done in IPL/Domestic season? Umesh too needs to be more consistent..

My blood is boiling reading some of the outrageous comments regarding team selection.. Its amazing to see how vocal the Indian people are.. They think they know everything about team selection and Cricket.. People calling Pragyan Ojha a good spinner.. Its really funny! Anyways, time to see how the extremely high flying Bangla fans react to failure.. A few wins have made them believe they are world champions!! I sincerely hope you all are brought down to this earth soon..

I don't know, but I think it's Dhoni's reluctance to give youngsters a chance. Generally, very few youngsters get picked.

Selectors surely need to do away with Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and Binny. And even Jadeja. They also need to give stiff competition to Rohit Sharma.

They should look to blood players like Chahal, Shreyas Gopal, Karun Nair, etc.

Karn Sharma just doesn't cut it; it's clear in his style and flight itself.

And Jadeja just isn't smart enough. He seems to lack the nous.

Good to see some changes in the squad with kohli as captain. Selectors decided to send a full strength team to Bangladesh,that was a good decision as they are no more minnows these days. Why cant selectors try Uthappa as wicket keeper batsman in the test?

This was expected. Bhajji, given he has played 101 test matches for India, had to get a break somehow. IPL performance is just a silly reason. The real reason for his selection is the opponents. Had this been Australia or South Africa, Bhajji would have been sidelined. But I do hope he makes immense use of this opportunity and claws his way back in to the side for rest of his cricketing years. He should concentrate on tests and only tests.

Thought there were some young fringe spinners around the Indian test team in the not so far past...can't see the reason for going back to harbajhan..it's definitely not a long term option.. I think its a waste of time!!

@Scrop: whats wrong with Rayudu Mr. Knowledgeable?? Do you watch one or two games per year?

Everyone needs to stop saying that bhajji has been selected just due to his ipl performance. The way he has bowled has shown glimpses of the old harbajan .He has returned back to his attacking ways not bothering about leaking runs . He richly deserves a comeback . Fanboys of jadeja shd find something else to do.

If IPL performance earn berth for test match den why not bad performance in IPL cost exit from test squad ..... it should be vice versa

Selectors need to see beyond Rayudu and Binny.

IPL performance doesnt earn berth for T20 international match but it earns berth for test match.... sounds ridiculous..... Karan Sharma first class match record is too bad... I m not sure on what basis he gonna play test cricket....

India looks to be coming with their main squad..therefore this is going to be the main test for Bangladesh in terms of the ODIs. Beating pakistan with a whitewash showed the improvement of bangladesh cricket but now it's time to prove and show the world where bd cricket really stands! Lets see

Bhajji prospered till such time there was the restrictive Kumble at the other end. He took time to recover from the Kumble's retirement, since there was no such restrictive bowler at the other end. Bhajji can attack and is a proven entity. His return will push Ashwin to perform better - nothing like competititon to bring the best in people.

well well ! this is the team Tigers want !! Good positive selections by India. It's going to be a testing times for Indian batters against the likes of Mash, Rubel & Taskin...hope they will be fit and see what happens..In past we saw Mighty (!!) Indian batters performance agt the quality pace attacks...Real test tour for BD too... Now important to chose some good ( not as good as we saw in WC !) umpires to ensure some fascinating Crickets by two neighbouring Nations...!!

Welcome India. Make the series competitive!

The new selection committee has been very good by-and-large, but with this new move, it is showing that Ranji Trophy performances doesn't matter compared to the IPL, even when considering for the Test side. What kind of a message does that send to the youngsters looking to work hard playing domestic first-class cricket? Moreover, the committee had earlier rejected Robin Uthappa who had been having a spectacular season on the basis of his being too old and opportunities needing to be given to youngsters. Why has that not been applied in this scenario?

If MS was the captain.. bhajji would have never made it to the team..Jaddu n Ash got more opportunities than any of d players..time to blood young talent..but happy for bhajji..real character

Naman Ojha should have been there in TESTS. He did have a very good couple of ranji seasons and still ignored. Saha who waited till Dhoni's exit is sure making others wait regardless of his current form.

Happy for Harbhajan. Hope he realizes what a great chance he has received for a comeback and hope he makes the most of it as very few people would have thought that a comeback was possible for him even a year ago. If he is able to play for a few more years like he claims he wants to then he can reach 500 or maybe even 600 Test wickets. Slighty disappointed that Pragyan Ojha was not selected although I do understand that he is still recovering to be effective from a change in action.

First Karn Sharma, now this. Spinners being picked for the Test squad based on IPL performances - BCCI outdoing itself.

Test, if completed cos of monsoon season, should be a close match and a cracker of a game. Especially if BD prepares a road. In ODI, India is a settled side and in no way comparable to PK. Hence, they should win the ODI against BD without breaking a sweat. Good luck, boys.

@krishna Kumar 100 wickets in 7 matches so roughly 14 wickets per match.. Are you kidding?

Why o why. I haven't seen anything good from Harbhajan lately to warrant his return.

People just don't understand the basis of selecting Harbhajan. Bhajji is being picked so that he can have a graceful exit from international cricket. This will be like his final series. This is the BCCI way of saying thanks to Harbhajan for all the services he has done in the past for his country. This is like a TESTEMONIAL match for him. On a totally different note i feel sorry for Bangladesh now that India is coming with a full strength team for the Odi's too, any hope they had of registering even a single win against India is now gone. A batting line up that surrendered 6 wkts to gentle pace of Binny has no chance against the likes of Umesh, Bhuvneshwar, Ashwin, Harbhajan.

I think Bhajji will be amongst wickets!! We need variety.. once someone is a known entity, the opposition teams figure him out and have good plans in place to tackle him. Ashwin's decline was a result of that. Bhajji will deliver is my honest opinion and his fearless batting does pay off more often than you think.. He is more handy than a Jadeja who only brings fielding to the table these days.. I hope to see Rayudu in the test squad sometime!! His technique will fetch him and the team bucket load of runs..

We always saying that younger players should to be in squad. But where are those youngsters. Who chooosen in last 15 yrs. In place of senior player. Where is raina, yuvraj, kaif,they are still not prove themselves as a test cricketer. But when they were younger. There is so much hurry to exile ganguly from team saying youngsters should play. After ganguly no one prove their capabilities to fill no. 6 spot. So please respect senior players they are hunger to prove again. Only confidence matter for these senior player.

Look at these Bangla fans. Getting so excited by a couple of wins. You're team has been playing ODI cricket for 20 odd years now. They are expected to be MUCH, MUCH better than their record. Anyways, Indian batting will perform significantly better than Pak, so stop hoping for a BanglaWash. There is a much bigger probability of an actual washout of the entire series due to the monsoons. BCB should have thought better than to play in June.

Fact is Bangladesh is a better team than before and BCCI doesn't want to take chances.Selectors have done their job now leave the team for captain and coach to play.Statistically its an important tour for Bangladesh. Because if they get whitewashed and Pakistan Whitewashes Zimbabwe(likely) the rankings might switch with Bangladesh coming back to #9 and they will need to whitewash SA(most unlikely) in ODIs and wait for Pakistan to lose series against SL to get back to #8 and qualify for Champions trophy 2017 by 30sept2015 rankings deadline.

I dont know that T20 performance is enough to play for Test matches :) Very good Selection. Soon , India will become NO 1 in Test ranking :)........

Here after there will not be any player from small states ,when dhoni is there atleast we seen some people coming from small states apart from mumbai ,delhi and bengal .This is like we are going back to gavarkar era of 7 players from mumbai.

Karn sharma????? what an useless player

@Anish Kadri binny is in d team because of the spell he did last yr against BD, 6 wkts for 4 runs

This team can semifinal,not final then why it is repeating ag ag? Frustration

welcome to the bench harbhajan ! it's a one off test ... lol

This might be the West Indies-series for Harbhajan. I am guessing he is in the vicinity of some personal record? Or, this might be a test of intelligence for the new captain to see if he picks him in the XI?

Why Binny is in Indian team ? Binny even dont deserves his place in his club Rajasthan Royal

good selection from selectors. I would like to see faces if BD fans after series. BD stands no chance against mighty india.

What is Binny doing in the team, he is somehow able to keep a place in his IPL side without contributing anything but National team is inexplicable.

Nice to see some new comers...

IPL is killing cricket. It is good like some kind of a reality show. Only a sap would Select players based on IPL performance. Until India starts winning matches with fast bowlers, its just a joke to watch India playing cricket. I'm going to watch only the Ashes henceforth.

Bajji may not play as Ashwin is the India's No1 after all. time to look into the fast bowlers and make sure that the cup board is full...

Why there are 5 players from mumbai [mumbai indians].

why only one Karnataka player got selected even though they did well in the domestic cricket? no rewards for players like Karun Nair, aravind srinath and mithun

Good to see Team India picks the best team for this series. It would be difficult for them to win if they sent a B team like a year ago. Hope for the best now.

I see some comments here like Spin cupboard is empty. It is not that the cupboard is empty. The selectors are not looked into it. There are so many good spinners (Jayanth yadav, S Purkayastha, Rasool, Shreyas Gopal, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra and others). Harbhajan just played 3 matches. Just a thoughtless selection. If I am a selector, I would have definitely rested some of the senior players, who have played non stop cricket. Great opportunity missed by the Selectors. I thought Sandeep Patil was a good thinker of the game. Looks like he is as worst as Srikanth. It is time we should have foreign selectors. Imagine a John Wright, Gary Kirsten and Andrew Hudson selecting a squad. There won't be any regional bias nor selection quota.

India selecting their first choice team, i see they are scared of getting Banglawashed LOL. On a serious not though that a good decision on picking Harbajan instead of that other lad you is a bits and pieces player who is not good enough as a spinner nor good enough as a batsman

We 160 million Bangladeshi will observe a day nationally if the result goes for Bangladesh... if there is a BANGLA WASH to India there will be a national holiday I am sure... 3-0 in ODI and 1-0 in Test will crash Indian Cricket........ Good Luck Bangladesh........

If Kohli sidelines Ashwin then he is doing a poor job. Now that Ash has become a much improved bowler from WC it's very harsh on Ashwin to be sidelined. Also he has been India trump card in home Test matches and took 100 Test wickets in less than 20 Test matches or 25 Tests... Ashwin is talented fellow and in fact Ashwin's career could just rise under Kohli because Kohli is positive captain

Welcome back to the team bhajji

ANY mean, Any Standard and All Stats, Parthiv Patel and to some extent perhaps Uththapa must be in Test team Rather than some ordinary Saha and dk.

Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik are the top run scorers in domestic circuit. Robin is not a regular wicket keeper and DK is. But they still choose Saha for tests. Injustice, I would say. And, honestly Mohit Sharma, again??? I don't know how much oil he applies on Dhoni's back to get placed in every squad that's led by Dhoni.

Shows how bare India's spin cupboard has become. They could have tried Kuldeep Yadav. Our seniors should seriously start searching for some really good spin talents. India has been a huge country for spinners and its so disheartening to see us pretty much empty on that cupboard that we have to go back to Bhajji.

I don't know why they always select Stuart Binny. I think he may be select as a batting allrounder who can bowl some medium pace. I think Irfan Pathan & Vinay Kumar are far better than him.

Sir Jadeja deserves to be dropped. Bhajji doesn't deserve selection based on relevant performance in the Ranji trophy.

BD is also not the best team against which to gauge anyone's abilities. If Bhajji plays well, does that mean the Indian selectors should persist with him against tougher opponents? OTOH, BD would be a good place to groom a young player so selectors may have missed a trick here.

Also, international players play very little domestic cricket nowadays. E.g., since making his 1st class debut in '06, Kohli has played only 31 1st class games discounting Tests. A few of these are tour games too. This means, his interaction with young up and coming players is going to be minimal. This sort of thing will create a dilemma in the selection meetings: you need to respect the captain's wishes but the captain may favor those he knows which means current/past players will be favored over others.

Good Kohli , you know Jadeja is waste and no need in your team. But Dhoni will still carry his buddy through out. I think he is the only player to hang in International team without any role

Bakwaas selection.... Why Rohit?? he and pujara have failed in most of the overseas tournaments... Rayadu would have been a better choice... and bhajji is another waste. they could have gone in for parveez rasool instead. Finally, glad to see Jadeja dropped.... not fit for test cricket at all...

Bhajji? This is walking backward.

Drop those waste players jadeja,mohit sharma and aaron

What a pathetic selection process! It is completely based on IPL performance not on basis of International class or form or performance.

bhajji back in squad is a good move. especially his experience needed in Test matches. jadeja shud go back to domestic cricket to prove his capabilities and wait for fresh selection in future. those who speaking against rayudus selection. just check his stats before commenting. his average is above 40 in odi's.his performance in ipl seasons was good. except the tri series in Australia. his performances in remaining series are good. India need a good settled allrounder. so selection committee wants to check again jaddu,Axar, and binny. Indian team is already with youngsters from 25-29. so why again to change or disturb the squad by including more youngsters like iyer, Samson,Sandeep etc... basing upon performances in 1 ipl season 1 ranji season. they cant get in to Indian squad. they have to prove couple of seasons and also by performing in subcontinents and foreign soils in India A/B squad with ICC associate countries and like Ireland,Scotland, Afghanistan, Canada, UAE

What the hell Stuart Binny going to do in this team.

Bhajji played only 3 ranji andhe got selected because he played well in t20.Well tell him to pick 100 wickets in 7 matches like ashwin did [People who criticise ashwin] he is the best bowler in world cup apart from shami. Why there are 4 players from mumbai [mumbai indians].

I would like to thank BCCI for deciding to send their full strength squad for the upcoming Bangladesh tour. This is exactly what we Bangladeshi fans wanted, a fair chance to show who we are after we finally discovered ourselves. Looking forward to an exciting series which, if results in our favor, can change Bangladesh cricket forever. Good luck to both teams!

Harbhajan Singh's recall to the test squad reflects the fact that the spin cupboard is empty with no youngsters worthy of call ups. Ashwin has become how Bhajji used to be prior to being dropped, scoring some runs in the lower order to conceal the lack of wickets. A one-off test in Bangladesh may not test them much, but if persisted with for the four tests against the Proteas we'll know their true worth.

What about the players, who toiled day in day out in the domestic circuit? Jayanth yadav from haryana, who had a very good season. He was part of the Rest of India squad as off spinning all rounder. What about S Purkayastha from Assam (another off spinner), who took 36 wickets at an average of around 17. Harbhajan did not play even half of the Ranji matches. What kind of message the selection committee is sending? How these youngsters are going to get motivated if they are going to be constantly ignored? Selecting a squad for test matches based on IPL performance is pathetic. Shikar Dhawan was dropped from the test match squad and Rahul played in place of him. On what basis he is back again? Why not Uthappa? Thoughtless selection.

Best thing to come out of this would be Harbajan's action coming under scrutiny. It's time that Indian bowlers received the same treatment as others,

This is indeed an interesting decision. There is no doubt that Harbhajan is bowling extremely well in T20s. But Harbhajan should have been first included in ODIs before being played in Tests. But there is no doubt that Harbhajan-Ashwin partnership will be good to watch. Shikhar Dhawan should have been dropped too. He hasn't played well at all. It would have given him a chance to look at his technic. I hope KL Rahul would still be picked ahead of Dhawan. India should also go with 5 bowlers. Then a choice between Rohit and Pujara has to be made. I know Pujara is a really good player with a good record. Rohit is also a really good player but his record isn't that great. But I would still play Rohit ahead of Pujara.

This one was inevitable. Knew Bhajji would be selected for this series. MS main trump card was Ashwin. But Ashwin is not a favourite bowler for VK. purely a captains call. It wont be a surprise if Ashwin is began to sidelined slowly(jadeja the 1st to axe). T20 performance may be considered for ODI but really no point in selecting for a Test match. In that case Ashish Nehra took more wickets, who can be selected as a replacement ( Zaheer in this case too)of Shami. Karan sharma is not a Test bowler please... In this case the selectors could have gone to Amit mishra or even piush chawla. Let us see what VK does as a captain in the coming days.

@Nadeem it was Gauti who started fuss with MSD in Australia. They won't pick players who disturbs team spirit and he was the one who also brain washed viru to sack MSD. So having them in side would spoil other players mindset. Don't talk about Viru he is not even in touch recently and yes one point Gauti could have been given chance.

But what was the problem is Dhoni was not able to explore his thoughts when these guys were there. Now with young team he has been able to that you might have seen in WC

So many comments about the Harbhajan's selection being based on IPL, I'd say I think otherwise. As the article says, because of the number of left handers in BD side, selectors wanted an another off spinner into the team. I know Rasool has done well in the Ranji but the international circuit is different. He would have been a good choice had BCCI looked towards newcomers for the tour, but once they decided to send a full strength team, an experienced customer like Harbhajan was always a good option over him. I think one should wait till the test to begin before commenting on his future. Hope he gives his critics a good answer.

Tambe would have been my choice over Bhajji or Ashwin. Need a lot of grooming in the spin front. They are a rare lot no doubt. Cariappa Mishra Chawla Mishra Chahal Jagadeesha Suchith need some grooming : Are u listening Mr.Anil.

Please stop the videos playing by themselves, PLEASE! It's annoying. We want to read the article and if we want we will see the video, otherwise we prefer not to. It's really getting on everyone's nerves, understand please.

There is no doubt that Ashwin is India's premiere spinner. So, I don't know why you need a second offie. I read some comments here which says Ashwin'g got to pull up his socks. I don't know which game they have been watching. Ashwin is the most consistent and committed cricketer India has got. He may not be athletic. But, he is doing his job time and time again, just like Kumble did.

Harbhajan is far better choice than Ravindra Jadeja / R Ashwin. Instead of Ashwin selectors might have given a chance for a new young spinner or Spinner all-rounder.

So one of the Dhoni pets gets sidelined from tests (long due - Jadeja for tests)....Kohli getting into the act slowly.. While I do not like him any better than Dhoni, hopefully he does away with the pets program that Dhoni ran for a long time.

And while I hated Bajji during that ENG tour, for giving up so easy and early (he was half the bowler he was - without Kumble at the other end - Now we need to find someone like Kumble - with a not giving up attitude - the fighting kind, the thinking kind - someone who is always up to the challenge) - I guess I can bear him for a series or two until we find a Jr.Kumble. Hope he ends his career on a high.

A very unimaginative selection. Why is Karn Sharma selected? He failed on a turner in Australia. Saha is over 30 and at best can serve as a wicket keeper for a few years. Instead either Sanju Samson or Parthiv Patel could have been groomed. Kulkarni and Binny with their gentle pace will not even trouble the pigeons on the field. Harbhajan is expected to take wickets in Tests even though he has been hammered in first class matches. If IPL is the basis for selection, even Nehra ought to have been selected. After all these years, the selectors are still trying to decide whether Rohit Sharma is Test material or not. He is merely a right handed Raina. Youngsters with strong performances in the IPL like Shreyas Iyer or Sarfaraz Khan could have been tested against Bangladesh. Overall an old team that failed in Australia is being retried. The only positive is the absence of Sehwag, Gambhir, and Yuvraj. Otherwise it would have been a team of senior citizens.

Harbhajan's inclusion is to quietly nudge Ashwin out... Rohit Sharma is back in the squad despite a miserable South Africa series, a very poor England and a pathetic world cup. Both Rohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni and Ambati Rayudu again gets included thanks to Mumbai politics... Wridhiman saha gets included despite poor domestic performance and despite great performances by Naman Ojha, Sanju Samson & DK. There is no way Karn Sharma can be in the team ahead of Yuzhvendra Chahal. I think we should stop seeing cricket...

Bizarre. Now's the time to start grooming someone for a) the next ODI World Cup and b) someone who they can invest in for a long term prospect in Tests (for now to accompany Ashwin - who is not great but will do for now until someone else comes along). If anything, Bajhi can be in the T-20 squad as his IPL form has been very good.

@who had issue with videos playing automatically -

I had that issue in the past and I think I did the following to get the control...

In chrome, you can go to advanced settings--> Content settings --> privacy settings --> 'plug-ins' --> chose 'Let me chose when to run plug-in content'

Its very hard to see the team without Robin Uthappa, even though he performed well in Ranji Trophy and Deodhar Trophy. He is the 2nd time highest run getter in Ranji Trophy as well and played well in IPL too. I dont understand why he is being neglected in so many occasions.

It's funny that MSD is out of Test squad and old players are coming back in the team. It shows how much power MSD has in Indian cricket. Players like Gambir, Sehwag, Bhagi, Zahir, Yuvraj are all out of the team due to MSD power.

Not sure about this selection. Surely somewhere amongst the throngs of cricketers in India there is a young wrist spinner that could be blooded here. India needs some kind of variety in their attack if they ever want to compete outside the SC again in the red ball game. I'm glad to see they are taking this one off test with BD as seriously as a heart attack. BD have some kids that can play some serious cricket. Should be a heck of a game if the pitch isn't a road. I've always wanted to see more guys from BD down in NZ playing the southern summer at the domestic FC level. I think it would help both countries and add some snap to future tours.

It is not a bad decision given that India doesn't have any good options in terms of spinners. Amit Mishra would be my choice but Bajji is fine too. Bajji had become very ineffective when he was dropped, but maybe he has 2-3 more years left in him. The problem is that he is not going to be tested well at all against B'desh in a single Test. So he will be picked again in the next series and only then we will find out. None of the younger spinners are doing anything great. The fact that Ashwin, the guy who averages over 60 overseas, is considered a "frontline" spinner, and "No. 1 option" is itself very sad.

Why on earth does cricinfo automatically start playing videos I will watch a video if I have to Let me read the article in peace Is there any way to stop the videos from playing automatically

Why are they picking 15 member squad for one off test match? 13 member squad ( one extra batsman and extra bowler) should be good enough.

I feel its purely a Captains call ... One to stamp his authority and next to sideline Ashwin as media reported Ashwin as a possible replacement of Kohli as Captain due to his temperament issues..

This looks more like a notice being served to Ashwin rather than rewarding Harbhajan for earning his place. With Ashwin being more of a co-traveler on tours doing little justice to his place in the side, the selectors have sent a signal to him to pull up his socks in the longer version of the game and specifically outside the turning dens at home. This being a one-off test, anyway, it doesn't make sense taking a youngster and benching him. It would do more harm than any good for a rookie to be an understudy for just one match, which not many people anyway will not be keenly watching.

Using Bhajji's age against him is nonsensical. For a spinner (not fast bowler or batsman to some extent) mid-30s is when they would already have developed the guile to fox a batsman. Case in point is Vettori. He was one of the most difficult player to score off and always seem to be step ahead of what the batsman was thinking. Bhajji's selection is a good, bold choice by selectors. Too bad they didn't consider him for the ODIs. He definitely would be more effective than Axar Patel or Stuart Binny.

Harbhajan is a very good bowler, I won't say great but a very very good bowler. And I guess he will do best on this tour against Bangladesh. But there were some points which BCCI forgot to think over it.

1. There is no sense in selecting a bowler for test depending on his T20 performance, that too IPL T20 where you get support of abroad players like Malinga, Mitch in Bhajji's case. Its really easy for other bowlers to pick wickets when one bowler (in this case Malinga) is not giving easy runs at one end.

2. If he perform good on this tour against Bangladesh (Good improvised team, but not a threat), BCCI may select him against big teams where he may (99%) fail again. And then BCCI will realize their mistake.

I am not a fan of Bhajji but not even a hater. But as long as it concerns National team, this decision doesn't make any sense.

So the phenoix has finally risen from ashes.Congrats Bhajji for making an comeback into the Indian team.Here's hoping that you continue the impressive performance in the T20's with test team.

Good to see bhajji back. He is the ONLY spinner in India. He was out of the team because of reasons other than cricket. Now the reason is gone and he is back.

What a horrible decision! Yes, Harbhajan's batting and bowling is better than Jadeja's all-round abilities in all formats. But seriously, Harbhajan is so old. At this stage, India should look at young spinners. The important aspect is to find a good spinner to support Ashwin in test cricket. I just hope this is a farewell test for Harbhajan rather than giving a long rope to him in test cricket. BTW, Jadeja should be dropped from both test and one day formats. He is only useful in twenty over cricket.

Harbhajan is selected because the BCCI has given him an opportunity to say goodbye to international cricket in a dignified & respectful way. This is like a TESTIMONIAL game for Bhaji.

If Harbhajan was selected primarily based on his IPL performance, then it makes sense that he is also picked up for the ODI matches. I would rest Jadeja for this tour, who seems out of form in the ODI as well as in recent IPL T20 matches.

In my point of view India sending full strength team because of the ban team performed well against pak it's just a point of view all. Best team India

Horrible decision. First of all you are picking a player who is almost at the stage of (and should) leaving cricket. When you are short on a spinner, you go towards a youngster to fill that void to back him up for the future. Especially in a series like against Bangladesh (not rating them low) you want your youngsters to get more test exposures. Instead BCCI turn towards a player who is not only aging in years but also in skills. Second, choosing a player for tests based on IPL performances? How does that even fit in logic? This clearly shows that there still some selectors in the panel of BCCI who choose based on someone unknown criterias that eventually hinders the chances of youngsters blooming. No wonder we don't see quality bowlers in India to the caliber of Steyn, Johnson, Southee, etc.

I see many comments here asking for young players in the squad.guys,our players are not oldies.they are of 25-29 age group(obviously except bhajji). And most of them have played only few tests.so our test squad needs no change imo..And bd has been playing good cricket lately so need a full strength squad not appropriate to experiment

are the domestic performance taken into considertaion ? if yes than how does bhajji makes the cut. But happy that he is there against many lefties . Really feeling bad for parveez rasol . What about gambhir ? dhawan forms is nt that good in test . vijay n rahul Better than gambhir. gambhir had good ipl n also ranji season.

It would be great challenge for the BAN players against the best possible Ind TEST & ODI squad. Hope our players would play according to their potential and bring us glory. My prediction is 2-1 victory to Ind in ODI series and DRAW to the single Test. Roar Tigers roar >>>

So Harbhajan has been picked for the test squad on the back of T-20 performances. At the age of 34, when his Ranji performances have been below average for some time. Must say rather strange. If they wanted an offspinner, perhaps they should have given an opening to all-rounders Jalaj Saxena or Parwez Rasool. Disappointing....... Hope Harbhajan proves me wrong though, because at his best, he's a class act and a real fighter.......

Bangladesh is definitely the most improved team recently. Expecting a tough challenge for the Indian team. There is a fair chance that Bangladesh may win the series

Great TEAM Selection. Thanks BCCI for selecting full strength Indian squad. By doing so BCCI proves "Big team should have big heart" and "Cricket is a gentleman's game". Real cricket fans and cricket lovers form both India and BD will be really happy to see the great cricketers magic play in this Bangladeshi monsoon. Praying and hoping it will be an interesting and clean series between two south asian teams... surely this example will be followed by other nations to strengthen the bondings among cricket playing nations! Best wishes for this series from a Bangladeshi Fan...

Well done new committee and captain. Jaddu deserved to be dropped.

this is the strongest india team ever. if u lose, dont blame of experience or poor team selection

BD supporters are celebrating Team India sending their full strength side. Shows the level of BD !

Good selection. Experienced player, who still has it in him to perform. He will be the second choice spinner in any case but adds value in case of a freak injury to Ashwin. there are those who will be criticizing him for his recent first class record, but the fact is, most of the wickets domestically are not geared for spinners these days. flat tracks with little on them will produce neither the pace bowler we crave, nor the spinners who were once our strength. bangladesh still has tracks to support these guys.

Indian cricket team, like all sub continent teams, is a home ground bully. Haven't seen them do much of note overseas in at least 4 decades since i've been following cricket. Dale Steyn, who gets regular thrashing at IPL by subcontinent players, can bowl to these batsmen at will in longer versions of the game. They bay hardly lay bat on ball! Dead tracks make cricket extremely boring. With all the money being generated in India. I really hope that the viewers and cricket fans there get so see truly exciting cricket of the likes they have been deprived of in 60 years.

Thankfully, none of Sehwag, Zaheer or Yuvraj performed well in IPL, else we would be looking at them playing the test too. :-/

Sending full strength squad to this series might affect our performance against other BETTER TEAMS...these players continuously playing since from 2 years, they need much deserved rest...Rahane, Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli were the part of all series played in these 2 years, they are begging to give rest to them...but selection committee wasted an opportunity to test our fresh talents by resting them...Sandeep Patil & co should be sacked...let Saurav take the responsibility..India's performance will decrease in the crucial upcoming tours against SAF, Pak, NZ

I don't know why some fans are bashing and blaming the IPL for squad chosen to tour BD, if IPL was indeed the criteria then we would have seen lot more youngsters like Samson,Iyer,Hooda,Sandeep Sharma, mid you all the four guys first performed in Ranji and other domestic tournaments before shining in IPL.I would much rather much watch two IPL sides or Ranji,India A, India u-19 teams in action rather than watching India playing Bangladesh in another meaningless bilateral series with same bunch of Indian players i have gotten tired of seeing again and again.Apart from how KL Rahul goes in tests there is nothing new or exiting to look forward too.

@ Mohammad Naukhez Its single test match series one triple, two double and several hundreds looks 10 day a test match with both side have 5 innings each

Can't wait to see our under19 players like pinak ghos,sadman Islam mostafizur and shanto in action for the first time in int areana against India. It will be interesting to see how somya sarker captain the BD side.

@HassanAkhtar Cheers Bro ! :)

Sandeep Patel and company should have shown courage and picked up a young team. An indicative team can be - Tests - Rahul, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Karun Nair, Samson, Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Sandeep Sharma and Deepak Hooda or Shreyas Iyer. ODIs - Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan, Rahane, Raina, Shreyas Iyer, Samson, Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvaneshwar, Sandeep Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Rishi Dhawan, Shreyas Gopal or Rasool and Anureet Singh or Mithun. Selections of Harbhajan, Mohit, Binny, Karn Sharma are all pretty ordinary ones. I am sure a young team would have given a good fight to their rivals.

Looking forward to new batting records. If Pakistan can consistently top 500 in tests on BD pitches then India is likely to make 700-800 against Bangladesh. BD also has the batting to plunder good runs. One triple, two double and multiple single hundreds is my prediction for series between tow strong batting and relatively weak bowling sides.

Thanks Mr. Gavasker, I wish India had more people like you.

Poor team selection although India might still end up on the winning side as Bangladesh is the opposition. India should look to play 5 bowlers in the playing 11. Not sure how this will be possible as there are no all-rounders selected in the test team (Ashwin can bat, but Harbhajan cannot be considered in-form bat/bowler based on IPL performances). India should have picked Akshar Patel/Parvez rasool/R.Jadeja in the Test squad instead. If they want to play only 4 bowlers in playing 11, then Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra would have been better option than Bhajji and Karn Sharma. Rishi Dhawan could have been picked in the ODI squad ahead of a front-line seamer.

India not won a single match against Australia down under 2014-15 and world cup.Now they are not going to win a single match against mini. Australia in the coming series

It will be dress rehearsal of Bd's SA matches...much hyped home team has to face humiliation in these 2 series.

i would have preferred second-string Indian team for this tour...

Good to see a full strength test squad even though it is a one-off test match. It does look a promising side especially if you add Shami into the mix of things. In terms of the ODI squad I don't get why 2 left-arm spinners considering the logic given for having 2 offies in the test squad. Axar Patel should be the number choice now. Jadeja hasn't really done too much of note in his last few ODIs. Would have rather had Karn Sharma in for Jadeja for ODIs. Not a bad idea to give one or two of the batsmen a rest as well in the ODIs (on his recent ODI form Kohli probably deserves a drop). Could have had Iyer and Hooda in place of Kohli and Rohit.

Not giving chances to new talent ,i think this is the reason of degredation of indian performances in odi and test cricket .i am huge fan of dhoni's leadership and temperament .But he had changed alot when he arived as new captain of indian cricket team.At that time he backed young talent but now he had stopped giving opportunity to young talent, most probable reason might be he had formed bond with the player with whom he usually play like jadeja,ashwin,mohit sharma,raina.i know selection process is not entirely upto dhoni(now in odi's and t20).But i Know for sure if he had insisted ,it might have been different team for bangladesh...i thought players like =====Sandeep sharmaShreyas iyer ,Yajuvendra Chahal & Sanju Samson==== would have been given the chance.....But Selectors and dominant players of indian cricket have different mind setup......

Gambhir should be given opportunity in ODI as Shikhar Dhawan not doing well and Gambhir done well in IPL

On what parameters is this decision based upon? Rarely see him flight a delivery in IPL. Have not been performing in Ranji Matches for a long time as well. Change of action has not helped his cause either. To include him in the one day team would have been a better choice as he has shown immaculate control in IPL matches but straight away back in test recognition defies logic

@HOSSAIN_BANGLADESH there is only 1 test and 3 ODIs and No T20I

I admire India's dedication to sending a full side to tour Bangladesh. I can't say I admire picking a player for Tests based on T20s, least of all a spinner. Maybe I will be proved wrong.

@ Banglateam - Rest your main players? Yeah. Better do it. They will get tired of the pummeling dished out by the Indians in the matches. They should be fresher to take the next round of beatings from SAF team. Statistically, BD has never beaten India in a test match anywhere in their entire test history. So, no point in "tiring" out the "seniors" with this match. Let them rest

ODI TEAM:dhawan,rohit,kohli,rahane,manoj tiwary,dhoni(c,wk),ashwin,axar patel,umesh yadav,varun aaron,sandeep sharma,nehra TEST TEAM:shewag,vijay,gambhir(C),pujara,kl rahul,karun nair,saha(wk),prgyan ojha,harbajan,zaheer,ishant,vinay kumar, T20 TEAM:Uttappa(wk),shreyas iyer,raina(c),hoodha,yusuf,rayudu,surya kumar yadav,panya,binny,jadeja,buvhi,yuvraj,mohit,irfan,karn sharma,sanju

I doubt that it is going to be a farewell match for Harbhajan from International cricket...

Test team looks okay. But selectors could have picked up few younger players like Shreyas, Sandeep,Samson,Hooda, Negi etc. for ODIs. what is the point of picking full strength squad against a team who could not beat our B team last year and who were humiliated in last WC match against us !!!

Sandeep SHARMA should have been there. Since MSD is ODI captain no changes were expected including the likes of Mohit, Jadeja and Rains.

That's Fine! India is not taking us lightly!

It might backfire, but still considering the number of left handed batsmen in the tigers lineup, it makes sense to go with two offies. Consider this team : Rahul, Viay, Rohit/Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Saha, Ashwin, Harbhajan, Bhuvaneswar, Umesh and Ishant. It wont be easy at all taking 20 wickets there, so better to have 5 genuine bowlers.

What happened to Pragyan Ojha, not been picking by MI as well as in Indian team he was lead spinner along with Ashwin. Is he injured?

Should have given rest to Rahane Ashwin dhoni ... Now,some of new players should be tried..

It will be good practice match for BD before the crunch game against South Africa in July-August.

It's disappointing that many Indians are now opining against sending this full strength side in Bangladesh. Hopefully, they will get the answer at the end of June this year. It will be 1-1 in t-20, 2-1 in ODIs for BD and 0-0 in test. Best of luck!

We need yuvraj Singh. Without him Indian cricket team is as good as nothing. I m glad harbajan is back now it's time for him to get back in action

Sad to see full strength squads being picked. Players needed rest after Australia tour, WC & IPL and players like Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Robin Uthappa, KL Rahul, Karun Nair deserved to play ODIs after doing well in domestic cricket and(/or) IPL consistently. It should have been a squad with about 7-8 players from WC & 7-8 players from domestic getting a chance in the ODI squad

look like all man army is to be going ...good luck from pak....we want revenge :P :)

Good luck for both teams. I hope weather will permit us to enjoy the series.

What is the point of sending full strength ODI squad to Bangladesh? Can anyone explain? If we do not try our youngsters against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe then we will go back to 1990s. We need to give exposure to as many youngsters as possible. Thoroughly terrible decision. If you want to be ambitious then be brave. Don't be afraid to lose a couple of series. Last time we still won all our matches in BD and Zimbabwe with completely experimental squads.

Selected team is not very well. Harbhajan singh recall, this is good, but rest of players like stuart binny, Ishant Sharma, karn sharma, mohit sharma these players not playing well then how team selector select these players. Selector will give a chance to Gautam Gambhir for test and robin uthappa, Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav for one-day.

Very poor selection. Selectors Must mind (samson,Iayer,Hooda, pandaya, sandep ) the next world cup team .

We are always good hosts and now would like to be a fantastic guests by conveying our overawe to the host nation for giving us a chance to tour their country. Perhaps, I see this as the only reason to go with this sort of team to Bangladesh. We should have selected a real young team and in any case, to have Harbhajan back in the test squad based on some meaningless 4 overs per match bowling is -- only we can do. If selectors are so impressed, may be selecting him for one day matches might give some reasoning for them by way of justification.

Get rid off jadeja in ODI 's as well

A wasted opportunity to test new players. Happy for Bhajji though. He has been bowling pretty well. Shades of the good old Turbanator were seen during the IPL. Karn Sharma is NOT a Test bowler. Funny how one season of IPL has made him look like the best legspinner in the country (which he clearly is not). Amit Mishra should have been selected instead of him. I always thought Mishra could be the strike bowler India is looking for in Tests. The olden days working hard in domestic cricket to earn national selection are gone. It all revolves around IPL now. Why do they persist with Jadeja? I mean, he might come good against teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, but we saw how he struggled against top teams in recent months.

Mr. Midhun Siva, for your kind information dhoni is the wicket keeper as well as captian in the ODI squad.

Selections just prove the fact that IPL performances are given greater weight than Ranji or Irani performances. Karn Sharma - seriously? Kulkarni has not done enough to deserve a spot in the Indian team. Considering the next WC being played in England, Rayadu seems like useless baggage. I would have liked at least two players from the following in the ODI squad - Hooda, Samson, Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, S. Iyer. I saw Hooda play against Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy - Saw one of the best counter-attacking hundreds I've seen in domestic cricket. Would have been a great opportunity to try them.

Here they come. Waiting for some crunch games. Hope BD will play upto their merit.

It is good to see Harbhajan in team, he should also be in ODI's as well due to his batting. What on earth is Jadeja, Binny and Rayudu in the team along with Dhawal Kulkarni. Not even considered for playing in world cup and IPL. If IPL is not a criteria, then Yuvraj should also be selected. If has not played that badly, the won did not do well. He played better than Rayudu, Binny and Jadeja to demand a place in the squad. Sandeep Patil and company should have been sacked after the world cup. Waiting for Sourav to take over and clean this mess......

I will believe myself as lucky if I get the support of the unknown power which help to keep the players like Mohit, Binny, Jaddu in the team...

Poor selection... Shikhar Dhawan, Mohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma don't deserve their places. Sandeep Sharma deserved a place.

really happy for bhajji. he deserved into Indian team. when player like raina played test and rayudu odi for India why not harbhajan? he is still decent off spinner

Mr. Midhun Siva, for your kind information dhoni is the wicket keeper as well as captian in the ODI squad.

A tour to Bangladesh should be considered as a 'time to test our bench strength' type tour. Yes Bangladesh are a decent team now, Yes its their home conditions, but there is no reason why India should be worried! Picking Harbhajan would've been an ok move for ODI cricket but why tests? I'm not a fan of recalling a senior player in the test team based on their IPL form - it makes no sense. I would've much preferred a younger selection who does done well in the Ranji trophy.

It'll be interesting to see who India pick at no3 - Pujara or Rahul. Rahul played in the last test India played but Pujara has done well for Yorkshire. Perhaps they will monitor the performance of Dhawan, and then Pujara or Rahul could slot in as an opener?

My Test XI: Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane, Rohit, Saha, Ashwin, Bhuvi, Umesh, Varun.

My ODI XI: Dhawan, Rohit, Kohli, Rahane, Raina, Dhoni, Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvi, Umesh, Mohit

Where is samson?he should have given chance in place of dhoni and saha considering the two ranji double centuries

Disappointed to see full strength squad for this tour...this was the good opportunity for youngsters like Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair..but selection committee thought to go ahead with senior players...last time when India toured BD with A team, won the ODI series comfortably, there was a room to make lot of changes by resting the senior players, who are playing continuously since from SA tour, Eng tour, NZ tour, Aus tour, WC 2015 & IPL...they are also humans...I fear that against this full strength team, how BD performs...last time when BD played against full strength Indian team, it lost by 109 runs...one happiest news for me is Binny is the side...we can expect 4/6 like performance

It is funny that BD fans already scared. Thats why they are commenting whom to be selected in Indian team..They want Ranji players, so that they can have a fight atleast.

Very ordinary team selection. It was a good opportunity to try out Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur and Karun Nair. It is as if this panel does not want to look ahead.

Hey, Bhajjiii..Welcome back..Happy for you..Hope you will rock again in the field....Spin se Har Bangladesh player ko Bhajan sunao, Bhajji...

Will not surprise if Indian fans defending themselves that the most senior players were tired after they lose the series...

Yet again IPL performances are looked at while selecting a test team..Karn Sharma and Akshar Patel would never make it to any 2nd rate test team..Harbajan played 3 Ranji matches and says he has 'burning desire' to play for India and has 'ticked all boxes'. Wonder what they are..sad to look at the squad..Ashwin is a good choice and will hold the team in good stead..

this is exactly whats happened with gambir, after his gud perfomance in ipl, he got selected for england tour and failed badly as he was in and out of the test team during test series. bhajji done well in t20, but not in test or ranji level. and now when he will fail (which i dont want but look like) in test he will be out again rather then give him chance straight in t20 where he belongs.

I think Jaddu and Mohit Sharma are in ODI due to MSD, as they both play for Chennai. For sometime they are not performing but keeping their place in the team. The selectors should have brought some new faces.

At last BCCI makes sense,Good to see Bhajji back into the team. Hope he doesn't give anybody a chance to drop him again.Would be pleasing to see him in the ODI team too

This is good decision by BCCI. Waiting for a good fight between BD and India. All the best for BD.

why not sanju samson in place of saha? He should get a chance.

5 of the top seven players in Bangladesh test eleven are left handers i.e Tamim, Kayes, Sakhib,Mominul and Soumya Sarkar. That's the clear reason behind selecting two offie's. Surely Bhajji is the second best offie available. For ODIs they can select Robbie, but they don't have enough reasons to replace the existing. Those who are talking about yuvi...please stop talking, u don't know properly about cricket.

Bhajji played only 3 ranji andhe got selected because he played well in t20.Well tell him to pick 100 wickets in 7 matches like ashwin did [People who criticise ashwin] he is the best bowler in world cup apart from shami.

I agree with @Likesh0210 regarding dropping of Jaddu and Ishant from Indian Team, even Mohit Sharma should have been dropped, these players have not performed better. It would have been better if they had picked someone else instead of Varun Aron. Sandeep Sharma should have been included, he is good swing bowler.

@midhun Siva.. Bro Ms dhoni is the keeper.. He is playing in odi's..

Ravindra Jadeja and Mohit Sharma got a place in ODI Squad because the captain is M.S Dhoni and they could not a find a place in Test Squad.. Good selection by the selectors.. Pity for them they could not find new talents like Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, etc who played notable innings in IPL.

Many are talking about Samson not given chance but he is too young for international level. There is a player Naman Ojha who has done well in first class level has perfect technique for foreign conditions and superb straight bat player.. Ojha is best wk for India along with a productive no.7 Test batsmen

Why India is sending full team to BD - Even one IPL team would been more then enough for them may be Rajasthan Royal / Knight Riders

dhawal kulkarni filling the quota of patil, instead of Sandeep sharma.

Now only thing I request from the players to s to crush them so bad that they will be scared to hold a bat or ball again in their life..lol

What's the sense of sending 15 for just 1 test. It should have been 13 rather. I doubt that Harbhajan would get chance in playing 11. In ODI team also Axar, Rayudu and Binny were mere travelers in WC and all of them are here again. Selectors should start thinking out of the box. They missed the opportunity to give international exposure to many promising new comers like Shreyas Iyer, Yajuvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Sandeep Sharma etc. Moreover why not Zaheer siting his performance in IPL?

good selection over jadeja....

Really a poor selection . Why not to give opportunity to youngsters like S.Iyer and Sandeep Sharma . Disappointed to see Mohit sharma in team after a poor outing in WC and IPL 8 . Should have gone with Sandeep sharma at least ..

Harbhajan should be in ODi squad also because he is very good form in Ipl

Welcome, most Welcome to Team India (Both Test & ODI Squad)...........

Another banglawash may be?

good to see Bhajji back, hope he performs well and play for 2-3 yrs

Good to see there is no experiment upcoming series against Bd . waiting to see great fight between two naibouring nation . Currently BD performing well and India also strong opponent . Surely we will be witnessing great contest. Hope best for BD .

banglawash is no more possible my dear bd frnds ....this squad is a full strength squad....last time mushfiqur said "if they lose India will lose and not India A " that's y India sent a full strength squad now time for

India already scared. Team selection proved that. Waiting for BanglaWash now!!!

Thankfully Jadeja has been dropped from the Test team but don't know why he is still in the ODI squad! Players like him who are found to be wanting when playing outside the subcontinent should not be included at all.

Really a poor selection . Why not to give opportunity to youngsters like S.Iyer and Sandeep Sharma . Disappointed to see Mohit sharma in team after a poor outing in WC and IPL 8 . Should have gone with Sandeep sharma at least ..

I could not find a wicket keeper in Indian ODI team. Are they planning to use Ambati Rayudu as a wicket keeper? Seriously??

what is karan sharma doing in the squad after poor performance on turning pitches in australia

Good decision. There was no point of sending A-team. Players didn't ask for rest despite busy 6 months shows the commitment.

The test vice captain of team India still remains a mystery.

Why no Gauti, Yuvi and Robbie?

Good to see Ishant out of the ODI squad and R Jadeja out of the test squad, would be even better if they were not considered from the other squads too, 8yrs of cricket and hardly a single man-of-the-match trophy, such a waste of spot in top 11 of the squad.

Welcome full strength Indian cricket team to our country. We are ready to face them.

To those Indians who are asking why send a full strength team instead of sending A -B teams: The answer is ranking points. If India's C team lose to Bangladesh, Team India will fall down the rankings irrespective of whether Kohli was playing or not. Now Bangladesh will be motivated enough to play their best and give a royal scare

Harbhajan selection for Tests is confusing. He had a very ordinary First Class season. Should have been selected for the ODIs and for tests should have gone with Amit Misra or Pragyan Ojha. Again Rayadu and Binny dont deserve a place in the ODI team. Should have played someone Shreyas Iyer or Karun Nair for Rayadu and Rishi Dhawan for Binny. Should have also found a place for Sandeep Sharma for the ODI team. By not trying out youngsters, I think the Board has lost a great opportunity to groom players for the future.

@DHARAM S KHAIRA

U saw Ashwin in the Worldcup??? he is the strike bowler for India now..

harbhajan instead of jadeja. Jadeja us just time waste.

The most fearful player for BD will be Stuart Binny. Based on this squad, BD do not have any chance to win any one game.

Harbhajan should be in ODI squad also. Sorry, Banglas, you are going to be Indwashed.

Not sure what made Saha's selection. Sanju Samson would have been a better option as he is young and should be groomed to take international responsibilities.

why are the selectors not considering sanju samson

Dhoni out means his inept gang being shown their true place. Would love to see that happening in the ODI's soon too. They've been blocking the way for many talented players lately. Dissappointed not to see Sandeep Sharma's name in the ODI squad. Test selection has been pretty good and though I'd like to see Harbhajan playing again, I don't really know whether they'll play two off spinners together even though Karn Sharma has been pretty ordinary in the internationals.

Should have included more youngsters in the team by giving breaks to Dhoni Virat and Raina...All the best.

A better way to represent this would be side by side, so that the reader can easily see whos in both teams and who didnt make it to both

Why Stuart Binny, Ravindra Jadeja!!!!!

Good decision by India...

great selection, No YUVI, no experience in batting line up. YUVI failed in T20's but had a wonderful ranji season, which says that he isn't a bad option in tests now. He always lost his wicket in accelerating innings, but seemed pretty solid during defensive and run a ball knocks.

He deserved a chance in the in experienced batting lineup. Afterall he counts more than KL rahul/Axar patel

Finally Virat Kholi Come there we Go Banglawash coming.In recent form i think asish Nehra can be better replace than Kulkarni replace of Shami.

Good to see both Varun and Umesh in test squad...

Good that no one has been given a rest, if players do need rest, let them rest while playing for franchise

Oops. That hurts. BD were waiting for an understrength Ind team to improve their stats in a good way.

welcome bhajji.........:)

Okay, that means India with full strength both in Test and ODI. Good to see that. Should be a good contest NOW.

Now only rain can save Bangladesh from a whitewash

This was the perfect series to rest some of the senior players from the one dayers n give chance to the youngstasrs to prove themselves. Players like Sandeep Sharma, Kedar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Sarfaraz Khan should have been included atleast for some international exposure.

Excited for bhajji

.......

Good to see Bhajji back in test squad....He is way better than overrated Jaddu in Tests both with the ball and the bat. Good Luck Bhajji..Hope Kohli gives you a chance to play and you don;t disappoint.

this time india not confident to send their lower strength team...all the credits go to Bd....they just earn this dignity....best of luck both teams!

Good thing. It was long overdue. Dhoni ensured that Bhajji stayed out of the team. Hope he gets to play too.

Very Good Squad i wish if there were Wrinder Sehwag in the squad too

Terrific squad. I genuinely believe Ashwin and Harbhajan will form a deadly spin combo. But Ashwin should bat at number 6 after Rohit and ahead of Saha in Test. Quality team. Dhoni will surely be missed though. He might not have gotten many hundreds in Tests, but there are have been so many instances where Indian top order has collapsed and Dhoni has gotten India to a respectable total playing with the tail-enders. Hope Saha can do the same for the Indian test team.

Nehra should have given a chance. He deserved more than I Sharma, M Sharma and Kulkarni.

Karn Sharma has 72 wickets in 38 first-class matches. Like Rahul Sharma he has been picked for a Test squad on the basis of IPL performances (Rahul Sharma never actually made the playing XI). I know the selectors do watch Ranji matches (I have seen Vikram Rathour several times at the Chinnaswamy for Karnataka games), but do they pay any attention?

There is no point in selecting a 35 yeAr old veteran to warm the bench. Dhoni should have rested to find a young wicket keeper. India should stop giving chances to players like jadeja, rohit etc....

One test? What on earth is the point?

Bangladesh playing really good cricket so India are scared for that so they are coming main team. We are waiting for banglawash.

Why full strength, I read somewhere BCB pleading India to send the full strength team to attract some crowd and revenue, but this formula can make the series very one sided and no opportunity for Bangladesh to register even a single win.

A well balanced side which proves that the selectors are not willing to give the youngsters more chance in the international circuit. A small series like this against a not so strong side (Bangladesh have improved well with their current form) gives an opportunity for youngsters to show case their talent. There is no use in playing the ever-so-predictable IPL or the tailor made pitches during the Ranji matches. The next generation players must be exposed to the boo's of the opposition crowds and the banters from the players. Its not that the technique alone is sufficient, players need the temperament to perform too. Hope this gets published.

It may be the final chance for Saha. If he fails agains BAN, selectors should look at the other options like Samson and Ojha. Samson would be better choice to keep and grew him under Sourav.

Who is the Indian vice captain for tests?

What is the basis for Pragyan Ojha's exclusion? He was the MOM in his last test in the subcontinent. And he has been cleared to bowl.

Where is samson? This tour should be utilized yo build up future indian team.

Binny , ashwin and Jadeja ...what has they done to be retained in the ODI team ???

Could have tested players like sanju samson, chahal !

GREAT SPIRIT FOR CRICKET,,,It has shown it's cricket. Thanks BCCI

Team selection as expected..so, disappointed.. In my point of view, If rest some current players and give a chance to seniors then it'll be a good selection..

It is a one off test.. What is the need for naming 15 players.

With this squad Bangladesh chance to do well is no 0% possible

Zaheer should have been chosen ahead of Ishant, Sandeep Sharma ahead of Kulkarni. And wise decision to drop Jadeja from test squad, soon he should be dropped from ODI too.

Karn Sharma in Tests? Give me a break. Amit Mishra, Yuz Chahal and Piyush Chawla- all 3 are better than Karn Sharma in tests.